A factor that causes degradation in the image quality of images encoded by an MPEG-2 (Moving Picture Experts Group phase 2) method is block noise. Thus, in an apparatus that encodes images by an MPEG-4 (Moving Picture Experts Group phase 4) method or an H.264/AVC (Advanced Video Coding) method, a deblocking filter that performs deblocking processing for removing block noise is provided (for example, see Patent Document 1). By such deblocking processing, even for, in particular, images at low bit rates, degradation in the image quality can be suppressed.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 3489735